Philadelphia Stalking Lawyers

What Exactly is Stalking in Pennsylvania?

Stalking in Pennsylvania may sometimes be confused with harassment charges in this State, but they are actually different. When an offender stalks another person, they have the intention of causing them emotional distress of some sort. If a person is being harassed, the offender was not necessarily trying to cause them anguish. They were charged with simply committing acts over and over again towards a person, many times for no purpose of harming them at all. So, as long as the victim feels annoyed to the point that they are repeatedly uncomfortable, that is harassment. But, if the offender intended to cause the victim pain or exceeded worry, that would be labeled stalking.

Harassment and stalking charges in Pennsylvania are on a fine line when comparing the two, and a skilled criminal defense attorney would have the responsibility of proving to a court that their client accrued the lesser charge if and when applicable. Stalking is a charge that some offenders repeat over and over again. And, the amount of times that they were either charged or found guilty of it will ultimately determine the outcome of their case. For example, if a girlfriend or wife has a restraining order against her boyfriend or husband that he keeps violating over and over again, it can be hard to prove to a judge that stalking was not intentionally committed.

When a person is caught stalking someone for the first time, it is categorized as a first degree misdemeanor, and the offender could possibly end up doing up to 60 months in jail. If they get caught a second time, they could get up to 84 months, and this time it would be labeled as a third-degree felony. The same punishment would happen if, say, the offender was previously convicted of domestic violence.

A good criminal defense lawyer would do all they can to make a judge realize that their client was not guilty of stalking in Pennsylvania by proving that the level of emotional distress the victim claims that they had during the event was not high enough to press this type of serious charge. He or she would point out reasons why the defendant did what they did, and show that their actions were justified. For example, if the offender had children with his wife, and she had a restraining order, there could be circumstances that were apparently reasonable as the event happened that would prove the defendants’ innocence of these charges.